Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Cebid species are widespread and ubiquitous members of tropical forest ecosystems, where they play important ecosystem roles. They are a rich source of understanding of the evolution of social systems, mating strategies, and many other natural history features. Cebids have long been used as pets, in zoos, hunted for food, and many species have been important in biomedical research. Capuchins are highly intelligent and trainable and are now used extensively as helper animals for disabled people. Squirrel monkeys were used in the NASA space program before human astronauts.